The Hannah May incident

His question caught her off-guard. The room spun around her and she gripped the edges of the lectern to steady herself.

“Ms Silver, how would you explain the Hannah May incident?”

It was no secret that she had been Hannah’s life coach. A fact that tormented her. Buried guilt rose from past failures. Oversights.

It was she who had encouraged her to push past her fears, return to her love of sailing. She died in the storm of 2004. Neither sailboat nor her body was ever found.

Ms Silver found her voice, “Hannah May was brave enough to follow her dreams.”

100 words

Life coaches are amazingly positive people. And I’m sure they have their demons too. Ones they wrestle with and from which they find their own growth. Whatever the situation, it’s important to face fears that keep you from your dreams or the change you want to make in your life.

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50 thoughts on “The Hannah May incident”

Maybe your best life coach is yourself. It’s a lot of responsibility to guide people in certain directions but fundamentally I don’t believe Ms Silver made Hannah do anything she didn’t sincerely want to do.

I don’t think Ms Silver is to blame. And you’re right when Hannah did what she wanted. I was thinking about fears and growth, and this is the story that came out. I guess what happens when it seems our deepest fears have been realised? Do we let it conquer us or continue with what’s important to us anyway? Ms Silver’s response is the answer, I think.

I’m glad you liked it. I was trying to look at things from a life coach’s perspective. They’re the ones always encouraging us to face our inner demons, untangle mental knots. What happens when their own demons crop up? I’m excited to read yours!

IT’s interesting to see people’s reactions. I had expected some comments along the lines of ‘playing it safe’ in life. Good to see people are very brave and encouraging about pursuing dreams and what’s important to them. Thank you for your comment!

“Buried guilt rose from past failures. Oversights.”
These words at the heart of your story suggest that Ms Silver did more than just encourage Hannah May to overcome her fears and sail again. Something that she failed to do haunts her, and her answer to the questioner was, to that extent, dishonest. Did she know, perhaps, that Hannah would freeze at the moment of crisis? You artfully leave us guessing.
Really well written, Fatima!

I did hint at something Ms Silver might have overlooked. Exactly what it was, I’m not too sure myself. Perhaps she blames herself for not realising there were signs of incapacity somehow, mental illness (another favourite theme of mine), or lack of sailing skills (though she used to sail before and maybe suffered some trauma). Or perhaps Ms Silver feels responsible but is not really to blame as she couldn’t have known any better. Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Penny!

I’m not a life coach, but I am a counselor. I can tell you that you have to learn to leave the failures; learn from them, but refuse to carry them with you. It would be too much of a burden, across a lifetime. Instead, rejoice in the successes.

Great piece. It’s unfortunate that Ms Silver feels she has to live with the guilt but she’s right, Hannah died doing what she loved. We could get hit by a bus tomorrow so avoiding the things we love because the might be dangerous is rarely a good enough reason.

Thanks for commenting Keigh. Well the image is just a prompt which depending on the writer can inspire any story. There’s no limit. The dock and the boats in the background led to thoughts of sailing and it sailed from there! I think it worked out well too.